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Asif Iqbal
Doha
The tax-free pay cheques extended by the white-collar jobs in Qatar continue to remain a major draw for job-seekers across the world.
Despite the Saudi-led siege imposed in June, the country attracted at least 30 percent more applications in the second half of the year compared to the first, several recruitment agents have said.
"The unjust blockade has failed to make any impact on recruitment business and this is reflected in the number of applications we receive every month," Global Manpower Services General Manager Badr El Sheikh told Qatar Tribune on Saturday.
On an average, Sheikh said his agency receives 50 to 70 online applications every day from around the world and most of them are for white-collar jobs.
"The Qatari job market is well-known around the world for its tax-free salaries and therefore generates a lot of interest from the Western expatriates," he noted.
Although firms in certain sectors have slowed fresh intakes, it has not dampened the general optimism among job-seekers on Qatar, he said.
"Going by the number of job applications we get, I can assure you that Qatar is definitely on the job-seekers' radars."
A recent survey released by Bayt.com and YouGov underpins Sheikh's point. According to the survey, 65 percent of all employers in Qatar plan to hire in a year's time. Also, the private-sector continues to have the highest hiring intentions, with 69 percent of large local companies, 69 percent of other private sector companies and 68 percent of multinational companies saying they will be"definitely" or"probably" hiring in a year's time.
Dispelling a false perception among a section of the global job-seekers' pool that Qatar mostly offers blue-collar jobs, Golden Manpower Office Manager Lindsay Lanado said,"Most of our applicants are looking for opportunities in engineering, business management, hospitality and administrative categories."
"The hiring forecast for Qatar looks promising. There is no slowdown," she added.
Since June, Golden Manpower has been receiving more than 80 job applications in a day against the daily average of 60 in the first six months of the year.
The Muntazan branch of the agency, which has been actively representing the chain in global job fairs, receives overwhelming enquiries for Qatari jobs from Asian countries, particularly India, the Philippines and Nepal.
